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A Photo Finish Too Close to Call, Even by Camera

EUGENE, Ore. — It was track’s version of Bush v. Gore. Potential fame and fortune were on the line for the winner, if those in charge could only figure out who had won.

In this case, hanging chads were not the issue. Rather, it was a photograph — or thousands of them, taken within a second — that somehow failed to reveal who had finished in third place and earned a spot on the United States Olympic track and field team for this summer’s London Games.

It happened Saturday night at the United States Olympic trials, in the 100 meters — a glamour event that often produces the world’s fastest woman. The setup was simple: eight runners started, and the rules stated that the top three would receive spots in London. But there was a tie for third place between Allyson Felix and Jeneba Tarmoh, an extraordinary situation that the sport’s officials had not considered.

Other sports have protocols for handling such outcomes, through tiebreakers or overtimes. United States track officials did not.

For most of Sunday, the officials still seemed unsure of how to settle the matter. Suggestions abounded. Rock, paper, scissors? A hand of poker? Putting two names in a running shoe and having Carl Lewis pull one out?

Finally on Sunday evening, nearly 24 hours after the 11-second race ended, a ruling was issued: the athletes would be given a choice between breaking the tie with a coin toss or a runoff. If they agree on which option they prefer, that method will be used; if there is a disagreement, a runoff will be held.

In announcing the new policy, Jill Geer, a spokeswoman for USA Track and Field, said the procedures were developed by the organization’s officials with input from Olympic athletes — though none who have any connection to the event in question.

Geer also said the issue would be settled before the end of the trials next Sunday, although there is no explicit deadline for the athletes to declare their preference — meaning they can wait until after the women’s 200 meters, in which both are entered.

“Everything was considered and this was determined to be the most fair,” Geer said.

Neither runner was made available for comment Sunday, but Bobby Kersey, who coaches both, told The Associated Press that they would not make a decision until after they complete the 200. The preliminaries begin Thursday, with the final Saturday.

The announcement, though convoluted, brought some measure of closure to a situation that had left many in the track world scratching their heads over the lack of a clear guideline, contributing to a feeling of chaos at Hayward Field.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Ato Boldon, a four-time Olympic sprinter from Trinidad and Tobago who now works as a broadcaster for NBC, said earlier in the day. “How long has this sport been around? It’s crazy that there’s not something very specific. I guarantee that there will be something put in there now. How we reached this point without a rule, I have no idea.”

The United States Olympic Committee, which oversees the process by which athletes are selected for the Olympic team, had a representative involved in the discussions, according to Patrick Sandusky, the organization’s spokesman. The U.S.O.C. gave final approval to the new process.

“The situation is unprecedented and I don’t think this has ever really happened before,” Sandusky said.

Photo

Jeneba Tarmoh (1) and Allyson Felix (2) crossed the finish line at exactly the same time.Credit
USA Track & Field

The circumstances for Felix and Tarmoh on Saturday were particularly cruel. Initially, the track timer ruled that Felix — who has won three Olympic medals and is one of the top American sprinters — had finished one-thousandth of a second behind Tarmoh, who is far less established on the national stage. Tarmoh even held the miniature American flag given to Olympic qualifiers and went to a news conference with the top two finishers, Carmelita Jeter and Tianna Madison.

Felix fumed in the media zone and gave an emotional interview in which she said “fourth is the worst.”

Not long after the race, however, track officials revised the results. And while there was a protocol for determining who advances to the next round when runners tie in a preliminary event — the rule book calls for a “drawing of lots” — that did not seem to apply to a race with an Olympic berth at stake.

Adding to the awkwardness was the relationship between the runners. Felix, 26, and Tarmoh, 22, each have contracts with Nike that almost surely include significant bonuses for making the Olympic team, and both are coached by Kersee and train together regularly.

The scheduling of the 200-meter competition was most likely a significant factor in the discussions. Many observers clamored for an immediate runoff, but adding an extra race would be taxing for runners who have strict regimens in place.

Felix, in particular, is known to be committed to her routine. She has said that the 200 — which she has called “my baby” — is her top priority.

Kersee, in an interview with Reuters earlier Sunday, said that track officials “need to leave my athletes alone and let me coach them in the 200, then make a decision.” He added that he would not be part of choosing which runner made the Olympic team because “it would be like, ‘Which kid do you love the most?’ ”

Still, for the casual fan, a runoff seemed to be the most — if not only — fair way to settle the issue. As Boldon said, “It’s like a penalty shootout in soccer: nobody wants it to be that way, but at least it’s still soccer.”

In swimming, a one-on-one race to determine which athlete advances is not uncommon. As recently as last year, the Americans Josh Schneider and Cullen Jones had a swim-off to determine which of them would be part of the United States team that competed at the world championships.

In track and field, however, a runoff like this would be unprecedented, primarily because declaring a tie in major races — in which the finish line cameras capture up to 3,000 frames per second — is rare.

David Katz, a member of the technical committee for track and field’s world governing body, said that dead heats were decided in events like the pole vault and high jump by who has fewer misses.

But in running events “there is no second best,” Katz said. “There’s nothing you’ve done before that will count.

“It becomes more complicated, especially when you have someone in a second race,” he added, referring to how both runners are entered in the 200.

At the Olympics, bronze medals may be awarded to both athletes if there is a tie for third. In the 100-meter hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, for example, Michèle Chardonnet of France and Kim Turner of the United States each received a bronze.

In this case, however, with a maximum of three spots on the team allowed, that was not an option.

And now, a berth in the Olympics might be decided by heads or tails.

Ken Belson and Mary Pilon contributed reporting from Eugene, Ore.

A version of this article appears in print on June 25, 2012, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: A Photo Finish Too Close to Call, Even by Camera. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe